Abnormal
by Crimson Pool
Summary: Normality, what it is to one person may be different from the next. In fact, something may seem normal, yet not truly be normal. I thought it was normal working at the Guild, I was however, sadly mistaken. For me, something had always felt... off. I wasn't used to the rarely exciting work at the Guild... Then those two entered the show and I realized what was wrong. (PMD: EoS)
1. A Storm at Sea

** Hey, I'm Crimson Pool :)**

**This is my first story...**

* * *

As the shadowy figure shot the purplish red orb of energy at my partner, I did the only thing I could do; I jumped in front of it. My reasoning was that the power inside the orb would react differently with humans than it would with Pokémon. The energy hit my exposed chest, hard; the fabric of my shirt did little to soften the impact. The moment it made contact the orb dispersed and the energy was absorbed into my body; unfortunately I still flew backwards, landed roughly on the dark still ground in front of the glowing blue Passage of Time. I got up quickly and scanned the dark frozen landscape, my eyes landed on a spot of green, my partner. I took off running; I stopped in front of him, picked him up, and started back to the Passage of Time. The shadowy figure had left the moment I was hit, so I walked quickly holding my partner.

My partner stirred and slowly raised his head; he looked at me and asked, "F-Frost?"

"I'm here, those Sableye got you pretty bad, Grov," I said with a small frown.

We were slowly nearing the Passage of Time, I started feeling funny, I must have looked uncomfortable because Grovyle looked at me with concern and asked, "Are you alright Frost?"

"Ah-I'm good," I lied as my vision grew darker and I started to stumble. We made it to the Passage of Time and I set Grovyle on his feet before I started to glow faintly.

"Frost?!" Grovyle exclaimed as he saw the glow, "Come on, we gotta get in the portal!" He stood back to let me through, ladies first after all, but just as I was about to step in I collapsed on the ground. "Frost!" Grovyle yelled as I lay mere inches from the portal.

"Weh-he-he."

"Oh no, they're coming," Grovyle said with a hint of panic in his voice, after all Celebi had been chased off, I was unconscious on the ground, and his wounds would hold him back to much in a fight. He grabbed my wrist and started dragging me to the portal. He made it into the portal while still holding on to my wrist, and then he turned around and jumped in, dragging me with him.

In the Passage of Time Grovyle's grip on my wrist was loosening, much to his dismay. He tried desperately to regain his grip but to no avail.

"N-no," he told himself, "I can't let her go, but my hands are slipping." He grunted in frustration as my arm slipped away more. Then suddenly my wrist was no longer in his grip and my unconscious self was falling through the time portal. "Frost!" Grovyle screamed, tears appearing in his eyes, as I disappeared from the portal.

* * *

"Ugh, my head," I mumbled as I drifted into consciousness once again; I felt myself drift back to blackness and I accepted it, though I thought before blacking out, _Is there something I should remember?_

* * *

"Okay, I have to do this," said a small Vulpix standing in front of a large tent-like building with a Wigglytuff design on top. "Maybe if I join an exploration team I'll be able to boost my confidence!" The foxlike Pokémon exclaimed as she was trying to persuade herself it was true. She slowly stepped onto a grate covering a hole in front of the odd structure.

"Pokémon detected, Pokémon detected!" As the voice yelled up at her the Vulpix stood completely still.

"Whose footprint, whose footprint?" Shouted a much louder voice.

"The footprint is Vulpix's, the footprint is Vulpix's" The young Vulpix couldn't take it anymore, she ran off the grate faster than a Jolteon. If you think about it, that's pretty ironic, seeing as she was about to have her life changed due to me.

Tears fell down the distraught Vulpix's face and landed on the ground, "I just can't do it," She choked out between the sobs. She wrapped her paw around a small stone hanging from a string on her neck. "I thought if I held onto my personal treasure I would be able to muster up enough courage to join the guild, but I was wrong," she whimpered. She then turned and left the area, with fur soaked by tears.

The Vulpix strode along a dirt road, eventually coming upon a beach. Bubbles were floating everywhere as the sun started to set, casting a pink light on the bubbles as they danced in the wind. The Vulpix managed a smile, "It's so pretty, I love coming here when the Krabby come and blow their bubbles," she said with a small sniff. The Vulpix then turned her head in the direction of a cave and vaguely noticed a silver shape lying in the sand, she rubbed her eyes with her small paws trying to get a better look at what she was seeing, "What's that over there?" She finally decided to go check it out for herself. She slowly walked up to the figure and poked what looked to be an Eevee, and a shiny one at that.

* * *

I felt a nudging in my ribcage as I slowly slipped back into consciousness once again. "Huh, wah?" I mumbled under my breath as I slowly got up. It took a few seconds for my vision to adjust but I soon could see enough to notice to Vulpix in front of me with tear streaks in her fur under her eyes.

The Vulpix brightened considerably as she saw I was awake. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked. I cocked my head in confusion, which was the universal sign of, 'please elaborate.' "Well," she started, "I just found you unconscious out here, and I didn't know if you were hurt or..." She trailed off.

"Dead?" I questioned with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

"Exactly," The Vulpix replied with a curt nod. "Anyway," The Vulpix started trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, "What's your name? I'm Shade, by the way."

"Oh, my name's Frost," I replied briskly.

"Well, you seem to be nice, I guess, I mean seeing as you are a _shiny _Eevee I thought you'd be stuck up," Shade said with a shy smile. The remark was innocent enough, but it brought immense shock to me.

"Wait, what did you say?" I questioned slowly, hoping for Shade to repeat herself so I could hear what she said better.

"I said since you were a shiny Eevee I thought you'd be kinda stuck up," She said questioningly.

"I-I-I-I," I stammered out, my jaw surely hanging out in shock.

Shade looked at me confused and asked in a concerned tone, "Did you not know you were a shiny?"

I lost it then, "I'm not an Eevee!" I shrieked, "I'm a human!"

Shade recoiled in shock at my sudden outburst, but quickly composed herself with a quick shake of her many tails, "Wait a minute, and so what I grasped from that startling exclamation, is that you're a human that, from what I'm guessing, somehow turned into a Pokémon. Do you know how this happened?" She asked with genuine concern in her warm brown eyes.

I was prepared to say that I knew exactly how it happened, but then it dawned on me, I didn't know how this happened. As I tried to recall how it happened another realization struck me, I couldn't remember anything up until I met Shade, which had only been a few minutes ago. "I... don't know," I stated numbly as I looked at the paws I noticed I possessed. I forced myself to put aside pride I never remembered obtaining.

Just then a rotten smelling Pokémon that looked like a floating rock, Koffing, and another Pokémon that looked like bat, Zubat, came over and shoved Shade causing her to drop a small rock onto the silky sand. The force of the impact caused Shade to go barreling into me making us both fly backwards.

"Whoa-ho-ho, looks like the crybaby dropped something," The Koffing chuckled with look that screamed bad intentions.

"Heh-heh-heh, you're right Koffing, we should be kind and pick it up for the baby," The Zubat said with a smirk on his face.

Koffing floated over to the rock, picked it up, turned to Zubat and said, "But wait, we're not kind!" Koffing stated with amusement dancing in his eyes, this was obviously funny to them.

"What do you say Koffing? Think we should sell that rock? The wimp did mention it was her treasure, we could a lot of money off of it," Zubat said as he glanced in our direction where I was currently helping Shade out of a pile of sand.

"Of course, Zubat, but I think we should give the crybaby a chance to get her rock back," He chuckled. Zubat nodded and the two thieves ran off into the nearby cave.

It was at this moment that Shade managed to claw her way out of the sand and turned to me with eyes filled with tears.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"We have to get back what they took!" Shade yelled at me.

"Why?" I asked in confusion, "It's just a rock."

"If you help me get it back, I'll prove it's much more than just a rock," She said with cold hard determination.

"Alright, I'll go with you," I mumbled.

Her eyes brightened, "You will?! Oh, thank you so much Frost!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I muttered as we entered the cave.

* * *

As we were walking through the cave, which Shade mentioned was called Beach Cave, random Pokémon would appear out of nowhere and start to attack us, luckily we could defend ourselves with our moves, the main one I used was Tackle because that's the only move I know how to make work. After a battle with a Shellder on what I think was the third floor, I felt myself grow stronger.

"Hey Shade," I started, "I feel stronger right now, why is that?"

"Oh, you must have leveled up, if you get enough experience points, which you get from battling other Pokémon, you'll level up, making yourself stronger. If you get to certain levels you can even learn new moves," Shade said with sparkling eyes as she envisioned herself gaining levels and becoming a strong Pokémon. But then the glimmer faded as reality set back in, "But I'm not very strong, so I only know a few moves," She said, demonstrating an Ember on a Corsola that was preparing to attack me from behind. We kept walking through the cave until we came upon the pit of Beach Cave where the two thieves were, waiting for our arrival.

"Heh-heh-heh, hey Koffing, looks like the crybaby showed up," Zubat laughed with malice.

"Whoa-ho-ho, you're right Zubat, and look she brought the freak with her," Koffing said, obviously aiming the 'freak' part at me.

I let out a low menacing growl and lunged at Koffing, I was _not _letting him get away with that freak remark. Koffing backed away quickly, but not before I hit him with a Tackle. I landed on the ground, throwing up sand in my wake; the sand landed on Koffing and Zubat, which was making it harder to for them see. Shade threw a quick Ember in Zubat's direction, inflicting a burn on the flying Pokémon. Zubat lunged at me hitting me with an ordinary attack right before I hit him with Tackle. After I hit him with Tackle he fainted, leaving only Koffing to fight us.

"Whoa-ho-ho, Zubat's a wimp, but I bet you can't beat me," Koffing said spitefully.

"Think again, Koffing!" Shade yelled as she let loose an Ember. At this Koffing fainted, which meant we won.

"Heh-heh-heh, fine you want this rock back so badly, just take it!" Zubat yelled as he threw the rock at Shade. She caught it in her mouth and slipped back on the string around her neck.

"Whoa-ho-ho, you two shouldn't start celebrating just yet, your victory was a fluke and nothing more," Koffing insisted.

I grinned cockily at Koffing, "You keep telling yourselves that, you lost to us, and that makes you the wimps," My haughty smirk was probably angering the thieves, but I didn't care.

The two thieves then left the area with heads high, trying to hold onto a shred if dignity.

"Psht, what jerks," I said, glaring after them. We then proceeded to leave the cave and go back to the beach.

* * *

When we reached the beach again, Shade took off her necklace with the rock on it and proceeded to place it in front of me. I leaned over to get a better look at it; the rock had an elaborate pattern on it, it was sure different from other patterns.

"I call it my Relic Fragment," Shade stated, "Because it looks like it might be part of some secret that has to do with an ancient relic."

"Cool," I said, after turning away from it to look at my reflection in the ocean. Sure enough, there was a silver Eevee staring back at me, I looked like a completely normal shiny Eevee, except one thing felt off.

"Hey Shade, do shiny Eevees normally have icy blue eyes?" I asked, staring into the eyes of my reflection, which, sure enough, had icy blue eyes.

"No, their eyes are normally a gray color," Shade answered.

I frowned slightly, "Well my eyes are icy blue..." I said, trailing off at the end.

"I guess they could be a different color," Shade shrugged. She suddenly turned shy as an idea popped into her head, "Hey Frost, do you think we could, maybe, form an exploration team together?"

"Why?" I asked carefully.

"Well, I've always wanted to join one, but then I saw how well we beat those to thieves and I thought we could form our own!" Shade said excitedly.

"You know what, sure!" I said, "I'd like to know how this whole transformation thing happened, and maybe I could get some answers by forming a team with you!"

Shade's eyes lit up and she started heading in the direction of a dirt road that led away from the beach. "Come on, we gotta get ourselves signed up at Wigglytuff's Guild then!" Shade said gesturing in the direction of a hill.

* * *

** So I hope you liked it!**

** Just a little FYI, I'm having some Tab troubles :P**


	2. The New Guild Recruits

**I'm back with an update! Sorry it took so long…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

I turned to follow the excited Vulpix, who was going to be my new partner, but then I felt something wedge itself into my silver paw, I lifted it and saw a rusty silver chain dangling from in between my pink pads. I scowled at the thing causing me discomfort, so I grasped the chain firmly with my teeth. With one strong tug the chain came out followed by a pendant, which was attached to the chain. The pendant was also a rusty silver color and was just a simple circle shape; I looked it over with careful consideration and finally decided that I liked it.

"Hey Frost, you coming or what?" Shade called to me from the start of the dirt path, where she was bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Hold on, I'm coming! Don't get your tails in a twist!" I yelled back to her. I slipped the rusty pendant around my neck and followed Shade to the Guild entrance.

The crackling fires of the torches cast an eerie glow on the exterior of the Guild; I stared at the imposing structure complete with the Wigglytuff head design on the top.

"So we just have to stand on that grate and if we're allowed we can go in," Shade stated simply.

She then cautiously stepped on the grate and a voice shouted up at her, "Pokémon detected, Pokémon detected!"

"Whose footprint, whose footprint?" Yelled back a louder voice.

"The footprint's Vulpix's, the footprint's Vulpix's!" Shade stiffened she stood rigid on the grate, refusing to let herself leave.

Then the louder voice shouted at Shade, "Hey, you're not alone! Get the other Pokémon up on the grate!"

Shade scurried off the grate at record speed. As soon as Shade was off, I hopped on the grate and prepared to be shouted at. Sure enough the first voice yelled, "Pokémon detected, Pokémon detected!"

And then, "Whose footprint, whose footprint?"

And finally, "The footprint's, ah, the footprint's," Wait, that wasn't right... Finally the first voice made up its mind, "Maybe Eevee's, maybe Eevee's!"

This was definitely not the response the louder one wanted and its voice went from louder to deafening. "What do you mean, _maybe_, Sentry Diglett?!" The powerful voice roared.

"I don't know what I don't know!" The first voice, Sentry Diglett, yelled back adamantly.

"That's pretty crummy!" The still unknown voice then turned its attention back to Shade and me, who were still standing awkwardly in the same spots, "Alright you two seem fine, you may enter!" The gate blocking the entrance then opened up, allowing us access to the inner vicinity of the Guild. Shade glanced my way and we made eye contact, the look on her face was one of confusion, I merely shrugged at the confused Vulpix showing my own disorientation. We stepped into the tent-like structure uneasily, not know what to expect. To our surprise, in the tent was a simple wooden pole with pegs sticking out at specific intervals to help Pokémon walk down. The both of us climbed down to the next floor relatively easily.

On the next floor, Pokémon were bustling around excitedly; some were pulling pieces of paper off two separate boards, while others were merely making idle chit-chat. Shade and I walked a bit more into the room, so we weren't blocking the exit, and looked around, on left side of the room there was a red rimmed board with faces of Pokémon and a few sentences under the image. On the right side there was another board with a tan band around it, on the board were pieces of paper with just a few sentences on them, unlike the other board there were no pictures. Then from another pole, leading to the next floor, a Chatot appeared. He looked at us cheerily and said with a smile, "Hello, welcome to Wigglytuff's Guild!" his expression remained cheerful as he continued; "Now shoo, we are very busy and have no time for silly surveys or salespeople."

"People?" I whisper to Shade, she shrugged. "Anyway," I said, turning the direction of the conversation to why we were here, "We aren't here to conduct a survey, and as you can see, we are not carrying anything to sell. The real reason we are in this fine establishment is to become an exploration team!" I announce proudly. Shade stared at me and wondered how I came up with the courage to be so forward with my proclamation.

Chatot was clearly startled by this declaration, for his eyes widened in shock and he turned around and started mumbling stuff to himself. Rubbish about how difficult the training was and how many Pokémon are constantly running away because of it.

"Is the training really that difficult?" Shade cut in curiously, with a slight frown of worry and a head cocked in confusion.

Chatot spun around with a noticeable mood change; he was now elated and practically singing. "Oh of course not! Our training is as easy as can be!"

_Mood swing much? _I wonder with slight annoyance.

"Well, if you two are going to become a proper exploration team you first must be registered as one! Now follow me, I'll take you to the Guildmaster, he after all is the one who must register you!" Chatot practically sang. He turned and started down the second pole with Shade and me in pursuit. On the second floor there was a huge window near a door with a pattern much simpler than the Relic Fragment's on it.

Shade ran over to the window, bouncing up and down in excitement. "Wow! Look at this Frost, we're two floors underground and we can still see the outside!" Shade exclaimed with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Chatot rolled his eyes and in an exasperated voice scolded Shade, "Oh, do hush now!" He then calmed down a bit and continued, "The Guild is built into a mountain, and therefore it is only natural that we should be able to see outside."

"Oh," Shade mumbled.

"Now, you must do nothing to upset the Guildmaster, he has a nasty temper and do not wish to see him lose it," Chatot said curtly, meaning there was no need to discuss the topic further. He turned to the door and announced, "Guildmaster, it's me, Chatot, I'm coming in!" He pushed open the door and nodded his head, indicating for us to follow him.

In the room there were some more torches casting a warm glow on the dark space. In the back of the room huddled a pink shape on a woven red mat. On the back wall of the room was a yellow tapestry with a red pattern in the shape of a Wigglytuff face; behind the mat were two small flower bushes, and on the sides of the room under two windows were treasure chest with undefinable contents. Chatot closed the door with a _thud_, and the pink figure then spun around revealing a large pink Pokémon, it was a Wigglytuff. "Hiya!" The Pokémon hollered.

"Ahem," Chatot said while clearing his throat. "Guildmaster these young children wish to become apprentices."

"_Children?!_" I questioned, angrily, "I'm almost sixteen!" That much was true, for the only things I could remember was my name, my age, and the fact that I was a human.

"Well, I _am_ sixteen..." Shade added happily with a smile. Chatot turned and glared at us, he clearly was _not_ happy with our exclamation.

"Anyway, seeing as these _children_," he started, while added emphasis to the word children just to spite us, "wish to become apprentices at the Guild I brought them to you to have them registered if you think they should join."

"Of course they can join! The more the merrier!" Wigglytuff exclaimed with a cheerful smile, he then turned to us and asked, "So what do my new friendly friends want to call their exploration team?"

Shade turned to look at me and said unsurely, "I didn't remember to make a name for the team, so what do you think we should call our team?"

"Team Spectra," I replied without hesitation. I had no idea why I said Team Spectra, just that the name felt right.

"Alright from now on you two are Team Spectra, YOOM-TAH!" Wigglytuff hollered. His mood quickly went from jubilant to depressed, "Oh, wait I don't know friendly friends' names yet," Wigglytuff pouted.

"Well my name's Frost!" I declared boastfully, for what purpose is unknown to me.

Shade then politely spoke up, "And I'm Shade."

"Ahem, Guildmaster," Chatot prompted quietly, "You need to give them the items."

"Thanks for reminding me Chatot!" Wigglytuff said, instantly happy again. He then turned around behind him and pulled out a gold colored box. "Go on open it."

Shade popped open the lid of the box and pulled out several items: a map, which when Shade saw she exclaimed, "A Wonder Map!" She also pulled out a bag.

"Hey, what's this bag called?" I questioned, while nudging the object in question with my left paw.

"That's your Treasure Bag, it allows you to carry multiple items while in dungeons," Wigglytuff answered, he then told us, "Open it." I obeyed, and inside the newly dubbed Treasure Bag were two bows, one was a sky blue color and the other was red.

I noted the bows with a nod and quiet, "Cool."

Shade pulled out the final item, a small cream colored circle with wings and a pink dot in the center. "Looks like a badge," She noted skeptically.

"That's because it's your Explorer Badge," Muttered Chatot from the back of the room.

"_That's _a creative name," I scoffed.

Chatot paid no heed to this remark, and told us to follow him, we did. He took us down a corridor into a room at the end. "While you are apprenticing here at the Guild, you will be staying here, this is your room," He said this with a trace of unhappiness, he clearly didn't like the idea of me staying here, in fact it was obvious he didn't like me. As Chatot's wing swept around the room to show where we would be staying, Shade had run over to the bed closest to the exit.

"This one's mine!" Shade declared, daring anyone to oppose her.

"Whatever, I wanted the one closest to the wall anyway," I stated defiantly, and that was true I did want the one closest to wall.

"You two must be up bright and early for the morning cheers, so don't stay up all night," Chatot commanded. Shade and I nodded our heads to show we understood. Chatot smiled in approval then left the room.

"Well, we better get to sleep," Shade said with an accompanying yawn as she curled up onto her straw bed. After a few minutes she was asleep, it appeared that the fight with the thieves exhausted her more than it did to me.

I myself had also curled up onto my bed; however, too many thoughts were racing around my head, making it hard to sleep. _Who am I? Why did I get turned into an Eevee? And where did the necklace come from? _That last thought came when I decided to inspect it. I turned it over and over again in my paws; soon I saw that the back and front seemed to be separate pieces. I hooked my claw under the line that divided the sections of the locket. It opened with a click and a small folded piece of paper tumbled out of the open locket. I rolled onto my stomach and gently unfolded the paper. On the small sheet was a picture, from what I could make out in the low light was in the picture was a small blue-haired girl who looked about eight. She had her small arms wrapped around a green Pokémon that appeared to be a Treeko, the Treeko looked like it was struggling to get out of the hug, but was really just faking it, that much was clear from the smile on its face. After inspecting every inch of the image, I finally folded it up and put it back in the locket, however the moment the clasp clicked shut, I felt an overpowering wave of nausea wash over me. I closed my eyes before my vision blackened, and then the last thing I remember before drifting off was a conversation between voices in my head. It went a little like this:

"Oh, thank you!" Exclaimed a feminine voice joyfully.

"It's nothing," Replied a deeper obviously male voice, "I just figured you needed something to store it in."

"Well, I love it," The female said with a voice full of gratitude.

I passed it off as a dream.

* * *

"Hey! You two, get up!" I woke up to this echoing loudly through the small room. I'll bet you can guess what I did next.

"I'm up! I'm up!" I hollered, jumping to my feet, "You can stop yelling!" It was then that I growled at the Pokémon, it was a Loudred, go figure.

"Well, _you _might be up, but your friend is still fast asleep!" The Loudred yelled at me.

"Wait, who are you?" I asked skeptically, refusing to loosen my stance incase this Loudred turned out to be hostile.

"I'm Loudred," He replied, "I'm a fellow apprentice here at the Guild," He rolled his eyes at me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His expression darkened again and he soon was yelling, "Get your friend up and hurry up! If you're late for the morning cheer Guildmaster Wigglytuff won't be happy! If the Guildmaster loses his temper, you'll be sorry!" Loudred then left quite abruptly, if you ask me.

"Better wake up Shade," I muttered, "though I still can't believe she slept through that..." I padded over to where Shade laid on her bed and started violently shaking the small fire-type.

"Stop it, I'm not ready to get up," Shade mumbled, while slapping her tails in my face.

"Shade, get your lazy butt out of bed before I drag you out," I threatened between mouthfuls of Vulpix tails. Finally, Shade's eyes started to open slowly, she sat up and yawned and then shook herself off, removing stray pieces of straw from her orange pelt.

"Why did you wake me up so early in the morning?" Shade questioned while blinking sleep from her eyes.

I wasn't going to answer that question, Shade would realize soon enough. "Come on, we overslept and now we need to get to the morning cheers," I stated as I shoved the Vulpix towards the hallway leading to the main room.

"Cheers? Frost, what are you talking about?" Shade asked in confusion.

"We joined the Guild you dingus," I said to her exasperatedly.

Shade's eyes lit up with remembrance, _Lucky_, I thought bitterly as she raced down the hall. I quickly followed in pursuit after that brief moment of jealousy.

We emerged in the main room of the bottom floor where the whole Guild, excluding Wigglytuff, was present. "It's about time you two Slowpokes showed up!" Called the obnoxiously loud voice of Loudred.

Speaking of which, "Oh, do quiet down, your voice is ridiculously loud," Scolded Chatot with a harsh glare in Loudred's direction.

"Sorry..." The big voice Pokémon mumbled sheepishly.

"Alright, now that all the apprentices are present, we may proceed with the morning cheers," Chatot explained to the group, though it was clearly meant for Shade and me. "Guildmaster, we are ready for you!"

The doors leading to Wigglytuff's chamber opened and out came Wigglytuff.

"Ah, Guildmaster, please address the Guild," Chatot requested lightly with a smile on his pink beak.

Wigglytuff did nothing but let out a small snore, he was asleep, with aquamarine eyes wide open.

_Geez, he's asleep?! This guy I'm sure will not cease to amaze me in the future. _I thought, while holding back laughter.

"Well, everyone should take to heart those... inspiring words of... um... wisdom," Chatot spoke calmly with only a few brief moments of hesitation. He then continued, this time with more certainty, "Time for the morning cheers," He then turned towards Shade and me, "you two do not have to say the morning cheers today. However, you are required to have memorized them by tomorrow."

"A one, a two, a one-two-three! One! Don't shirk work!" Bellowed the Guild apprentices, "Two! Run away and pay! Three! Smiles go for miles!

"Let's get to work!" announced Chatot.

The Guild responded with a joyous, "Hooray!" After that everyone dispersed to go do the jobs assigned to them for the day.

"You two," Chatot said to Shade and I, who were currently standing in the corner, unsure of what to do, "follow me." He then started up the ladder to the floor above.

When we were on the first floor, Chatot directed us to the tan-rimmed board without the pictures on the papers. "This is the Job Bulletin Board," explained Chatot, using a wing to gesture towards the board in question. "Recently, there has been a drastic inflation in the amount of jobs we have been receiving here at the Guild; this is due to time going out of whack." Chatot explained.

_Time out of whack, I'm not shocked by this... Why?_ I thought in puzzlement, it was true the whole bit about time didn't surprise me. I had been lost in thought and therefore missed what Shade and Chatot had said about Mystery Dungeons. I got the basics however, so I would be fine.

"Here is the job you shall complete as your assignment," Chatot said firmly. He passed the paper over to Shade who read it out loud.

_Dear kind Reader,_

_My name is Spoink; my problem you see is that a fiendish outlaw has run off with my precious pearl! Without it upon my head I cannot keep calm and I have been bouncing all around without any sense of balance or control. But luckily it appears that my pearl has been spotted on the seventh floor of Drenched Bluff! Unfortunately, I am in no condition to retrieve it myself so I have been forced to seek aid in the recovery of my pearl. _

_Sincerely, Spoink._

After reading the letter, Shade's mood quickly turned sour. "You mean we're only going to retrieve an item that was lost?!" Shade exclaimed in anger. "I'd rather explore uncharted dungeons and find amazing treasures!"

"Shade, we are _beginners_, what you just described would require for us to have more experience," I explained, trying to reason with the dreamer standing in front of me.

"Precisely," Chatot added.

"Fine," Shade sighed in defeat, "we'll go get the pearl..."

* * *

We had already gotten halfway through the dungeon when something occurred to me. "Hey, Shade," I started uncertainly.

"Yeah Frost?" The Vulpix asked half-heartedly, in truth, she was too preoccupied with the road ahead.

I shuffled my silver paws on the ground before responding. "It's just, since I was human before becoming an Eevee, don't you think I should have been at least a _little_ freaked out at seeing talking Pokémon?" I questioned Shade.

"Maybe, you weren't raised normally, maybe you were raised by Pokémon and therefore grew up accustomed to Pokéspeak, which means you would be able to understand Pokémon," Shade answered, she was suddenly attacked by a Chingling that was using Wrap. The red and white antenna on the Chingling's head wrapped tightly around Shade's orange torso and proceeded to squeeze the air out of Shade's lungs.

"Beat it," I yelled at the Chingling as I hit its right cheek with forceful Tackle, causing its grip on Shade to weaken, allowing Shade to break free. The Vulpix shot a small Ember at the Psychic-type and the Bell Pokémon fainted. "Are you okay Shade?" I asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Shade wheezed out, desperately attempting to regain her breath. She looked up and gasped, "Frost, look, there it is, Spoink's pearl!"

"I'll carry it," I offered after helping Shade to her paws. I trotted over to the pink sphere and slipped it into the treasure bag that was hanging by my side. I noted the two ribbons at the bottom of the bag buried under some seeds, a few orbs, and multiple berries. I quickly slipped the sky blue ribbon around my neck so it resembled a bandana. "Hey Shade, I found this ribbon at the bottom of the bag and thought you could wear it, seeing as I'm wearing the blue one," I said, tossing the red ribbon toward Shade, who caught with ease in her mouth.

As she was slipping the ribbon around her neck in the same fashion as me, she muttered a quick, "Let's get out of here now," I nodded in agreement and soon we were heading back to the Guild to return the pearl to Spoink.

* * *

"Thank you very much Team Spectra," Spoink exclaimed happily bouncing with a steady rhythm. "Without my pearl I could not control my bounces at all, resulting in the many dings and bumps that litter my body."

"Oh, it was nothing," I said with a flick of my bushy silver tail. We were back at the Guild standing in front of the Job Bulletin Board with a delighted Spoink thanking us for about the eighth time.

"Oh, nonsense," Spoink proclaimed, "I must reward you for your generous deed, here take this," Spoink handed us a stack of Poké that equaled two-thousand Poké.

"We get _all_ of this?!" Shade yelped in surprise, her eyes widening from the shock.

"Of course you do! My pearl _far_ outshines the worth of the money I've given you," Spoink declared with a smile. After many thanks from both us and Spoink, the bounce Pokémon left with a gleeful grin on his face.

"Good work you two," Chatot praised, "Now give me the money," He said as he snatched the money out of Shade's grip.

"What are you doing?!" I cried in shock.

"Since you live and are fed here, did you really think that you would be allowed to stay here for free? The Guild gets ninety percent of the money earned from jobs to continue providing the apprentices with the necessary living accommodations. Here is the money you get," Chatot stated as he handed me the two hundred Poké left over. "Now, you two should wait downstairs until dinner is ready," Chatot suggested, he then turned to go downstairs.

"Well, let's head down then..." Shade trailed off, obviously disappointed at the drastic decrease in Poké.

The moment we made it downstairs, one of the apprentices, Chimecho, announced that it was dinner time. We all piled into the room and arranged ourselves at plates that were stacked with fruit. The whole Guild ate their meals with idle chit chat in between bites. The whole Guild ended up going to bed with full stomachs.

* * *

"Hey, Frost?" Shade asked from where she was on her bed.

"Yeah, Shade?" I answered with my own question.

"I'm kinda upset that the Guild took most of the money," The Fire-Type mumbled sadly, "But I guess it can't be helped, we do need food and shelter and the Guild can't provide us those assets without money. Well, goodnight Frost.'

"G'Night, Shade," whispered from where I laid and slowly let myself succumb to sleep.

* * *

**I update when I finish a chapter… That's how that works with me.**

**I would appreciate it if someone would like to volunteer to be a beta reader for me... You know, in case Word misses something... **


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